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Basic question about merchant accounts

Hi all.
i currently use paypal ( which is ok ) but I am looking at a new venture which will need a proper merchant account.

I am UK based and there are two options that appeal to me.

WORLDPAY = 4.5% + £150 per year ( £12-50 per month )

PROTX = £20 per month ( for up to 1000 transactions per quarter, or 10pence per transaction ) ... but I would need to get my own internet merchant account with one of the UK big banks.

( £1 = approx $1.9 )

Protx is obviously a lot cheaper.... or is it ?

Question is.... Does it cost monny to have a merchant account ? ie monthly statements etc, or is that part of what protx would be doing. Or put more simply, would I have to pay more than Protx are charging ( which would make Worldpay a better option )

WorldPay is a Third Party account provider which is why their rates are higher. The advantage is that their underwriting criteria are less strict and it is relatively easy to get started. Protx sounds like a payment gateway only (similar to Authorize.Net) and would charge a fee separate from the merchant account fee. If you can afford the monthly fees a merchant account is the preferred solution over a Third Party provider.

Michael is corrrect about WorldPay. I have heard good things & some bad things of course about them. I think they went thru a pretty big change just a few weeks ago.

And depending on who you choose as a processor, it might not be cheaper in relation to Protx. Worldpay comes with the gateway & processor. All Protx does is give you the connection from your website to visa.net etc to verify the transactions.

Think of Protx like this - they are similar to the POS terminal in the restaurant.